THANKS!

Since it has now been a month since Sam's birthday party and three months since Jack's party and I still have a list of thank you notes that haven't been written, I decided to acknowledge that it probably wouldn't ever get done and post my thanks here instead. So, a big thank you to all of our friends and family who did so much to make Jack and Sam's birthdays the best they've had so far. Aaron and I never cease to be amazed at how much you guys all do for us and especially for the boys - not just on their birthdays or around the holidays, but all year round. We are so blessed to be a part of a wonderful family and an amazing group of friends. This Thanksgiving, we're thankful for you!

Happy Haunting!

We had a great Halloween this year - we had two Spidermans - the good and the bad. When Jack decided he wanted to be Spiderman, Sam jumped right in and decided to be Venom. I wonder how much longer we'll be able to convince them the dress along with the same theme - maybe one more year if I'm lucky! Our day started with a trip to Daddy's office for trick-or-treating. They had both costume and door contests at Biztech this year, so Aaron and Micah went all out and built a pirate ship. They won the door contest and Micah won the costume contest (Aaron was still changing clothes during the judging, or else I'm sure he would have won!). We then moved the entire pirate ship to church and built it around the truck for trunk or treat. The kids got so much candy and our "treasure chest" of candy wasn't even half-way empty. Guess next year, we don't need to buy fifty pounds! The boys had a great time playing games at the Fall Festival at church too. I think they liked the football toss the best, but I didn't get a picture of Sam becuase he sent a spiral straight through the first time. Hopefully that aim will pay off one of these days! Just a side note - see if you can find the one or two pictures I got with Jack with his mask actually on - my little genius has such a big head that the mask wouldn't allow him to open his eyes!!

Jump Crazy

We had Sam's 6th birthday party back on the 18th at Jump Zone in Madison - what a great place! The kids had a blast and were totally worn out by the end of the day. I think the adults that decided to jump around had a great time too (myself included)! We had a terrifc crowd and a great day all together! I can't believe my first little baby is six!

Georgia Aquarium

Aaron took a day off of work back during fall break and we took the boys to the aquarium in Atlanta. We loved it and the boys had such a great time. My favorite - the Beluga Whales - they were amazing. I think the boys liked the whale sharks the best just because they were so big. Sam even took some of these pictures - see if you can pick out his photography skills!

Playing catch-up

Okay - so I'm going to try to get caught up today for the past few weeks (okay maybe several weeks). The baby is doing well. I'm thirteen weeks along and everything is progressing very well. The baby was a bit stubborn at yesterday's doctor appointment (it took longer than I would like to find the heartbeat), but once we did it was nice and strong and in the upper 160's. I go back on November 18th for my next check-up and we scheduled the ultrasound for December 9th. Hopefully a new doctor and new ultrasound machine will give us a better view than we had with the boys! Either way, we'll have a 4D ultrasound near the end of January, first of February, so we'll be able to verify then.
Our house has been somewhat chaotic - we've been wanting to redo our floors for sometime, but we decided (Aaron and I still fuss over who's idea it was) to go ahead and repaint the whole house in the process. The kitchen is pretty much done and while the hardwoods were put down in the living room yesterday, we've had to order more for the hallway and then we'll just have to finish installing and painting all the trim. Aaron's done the largest bulk of the work, but I've done a little here and there. Next we'll tackle the three bedrooms including the study which will soon become a nursery. They'll all get new paint and carpet too. Aaron's even thinking about making us a new headboard for the master bedroom, so we'll be pretty busy from now until...well, I guess forever!
All else is well - Aaron and IntelCell are doing great. There was a fantastic article in the Fall 2008 Huntsville R & D magazine about Cellulosix (the company Aaron took to this year's Alabama Launchpad competition), but they also discussed IntelCell a little and got a hair to do another article. So, Aaron will be on the cover of the Winter 2008 edition (January, I think). When the Huntsville Times got wind of that, they called for a story too. All this press has got to be good! I'm so proud!
Okay - I'll do my best to get all of our recent pics up and try to stay caught up - we'll see how that goes!

Number 24

Grandchild number 24 (on Aaron's side), Hogan Arthur Richardson, arrived on September 7, 2008 to proud parents Betsy and Michael. This is number 3 for them - Hattie is now 7 and Clark is 2 1/2. He's the sweetest little thing and we had such a great time visiting them. Of course, Sam and Jack woke up every person on the floor, but what else is new. Happy Birthday baby Hogan and welcome to the family! On a side note - how great does Aaron look - of course, he decides to get small right as I'm getting ready to get fat!

Ultrasound Number 1

Aaron and I got to see the baby today for the first time. He/she is doing very well with a whopping 176 beats per minute heartrate and a nice strong spine. Of course, that's all we could make out, but the technician and the doctor both said that everything looks great. A bonus - there's only one! My official 40-week due date is April 30th, but since we're trying to go for a size and labor closer to Sam's than Jack's (a.k.a. short and easy at two weeks early with a six pounder versus induced and hard at one week early with an injured eight pounder!), Dr. Callison marked me down for Wednesday, April 15th - that's two weeks and a day early, and on a Wednesday to make sure she's not out of the office or in surgery. If I don't go on my own by that day, she'll help me out! Man - do I love my doctor! A tax break on tax day - that's a happy thing!

Jack's first day

Jack started preschool last Tuesday, September 9th. His first day was actually supposed to be Thursday, September 4th, but he woke up that morning with a nasty fever, so I had to keep him home. He absolutely loves preschool and is never ready to leave when I go to pick him up. The first day, I believe his comment was - "I not go with you, Mommy - I live at preschool!" That's my boy!